Propeller.



PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

J. BERME'S PROPELLER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1906.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

lmw rmw QX i tn eases atkowmugs PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

J. BERMES.

' PROPELLER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Slave 1 do;

onrrnn sra'rns JOHN BERMES; OF UNION, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF .ONEFOURTH TO DANlEL CROSSLEY, OF

PATENT ori ion.

UNION, NEW JERSEY.

PROF'ELLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

pplica i n filed Septeinber 11, 1906. S ri l No- 334,167.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN BERMES, a citizen of the United States, residing at the town of Union. in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Propeller; and I do hereby declare the scription of the invention, such as will enable others skillell in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i This invention relates to means for propelling vessels the invention has for its obect the attainment of greater speed than has I been possible with means heretofore cm- I ployed. l The invention has particular reference to a l following to be a full, clear, and exact de- I screw-propellers, and it may be stated to consist in an improved arrangement of two propellers, one in advance of the other, and means whereby said propellers may be retated in opposite directions, so that the volume of water set in motion by thefirst propeller shall impact against the second propeller which will thus operate to propel the Vessel with which it is connected, at greatly accelerated speed.

invention; it being, however, understood but that changes, alterations and modili'ca'- .ing a modification of the invention.

proved construction and novel arrangement and combination oi parts which will be here- The invention further consists in the inn; 1' particularly poiutinaft'er fully described and ed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple'and preferred form of the that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structuraldetalls therein exhibited,

tions within the scope of the invention may be resorted to when desired.

In the drawings: Figure l is-a sectional elevation of a boat or vessel equipped with propellers in accordance with the principles of the invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of a vessel, illustrat Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating an other modification.

Correspondin parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

The hull of the boat or vessel to which the invention is applied, as shown at A is preferably constructed on lines conducive to speed.

- In ig. l the bottom of the boat is made to l i I l i l and it is provided with an aperture for the passage of the shafts carrying the propellers. The aperture is provided with a gland 1 constituting a bearing in which antifriction. balls or members 1?, 2 are placed; the gland 1 constitutes a bearing for a tubular shaft 3, additional bearings for which, as 4, may be provided within the vessel said tubular shaft is also shown as having'an additional bearing in a hanger 5 beneath the stern of the vessel. The tubular shaft 3 carries at or near its rear end a screw-propeller 6 of suitable and ap-. proved construction. I

Extending through the tubular shaft 3 and supported for rotation therein is a shaft 7 which extends a suitable distance inrear of the tubular shaft and which carries a screwpropeller S the blades of which are pitched in a reverse direction to the propeller on the tubular shaft 3. The latter is provided with suitable lubricator 9 for supplying lubrica tion to the shaft 7.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings has been shown a counter-shaft it) which is adapted to be driven by power such as an engine or motor of any suitable construction. The countershaft carries pulleys 11, 12 from which motion is transmitted by belts or bands 13 and 14 to pulleys l5 and 16 upon the shafts and 7 respectively, one of the bands 14 being twisted so that the shafts 3 and 7 will be rotated in opposite.directions.

It will be readily seen that when the shafts carrying the propellers are rotated in the proper direction, the volume of water which is in motion by the forward ropeller 6 will impact against the blades of the rearward pro pcller 8, and furnish a resistance for the latter which is thus rendered extremely effective in assisting in the propulsion of the vessel which latter may thus be propelled at a speed which is largely in excess of that obtained when a single screw-propeller, or a propellers arranged side by side late the distance between the propellers 6 v and 8, according to the speed at which they are being rotated and other conditions; to this end the inner shaft 7 carrying the propeller 8 may in theshaft 3, as by means of a suitable hand be adjusted longitudinally withlever 17 connected by a link 18 with a collar 19 fitted bet ween flanges upon the shaft 7';

the lever 17 being provided with a stop REE/112* ber 21 adapted to engage a rack 22 whereby the parts may be retained in position at various adjustments by this simple arrangement the shaft 7 carrying the propeller 8 may be adjusted longitudinally so as to space the propeller 8 at various distances from. the propeller 6 carried by the tubular shaft 3. W hen this construction is adopted, the shaft 7 will be feathered in or otherwise slidably connected with the pulley 16. w

Under the construction illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the hull of the is provided at its rear end with a recess or offset 23 to accommodate the propellers. The gland which constitutes the antil'ricl'ion bearing for the tubular shaft 3 is here sup ported in the stern-post 24rand an auxiliary bearing for the rear end ol' the shaft 7 is formed in the rudder-post Fig. 3 ol the drawings a somewhat n'iodilied nie ns for driving the shafts 3 and 7 has been shown, said shafts being provided with bevel gears 26, 27 meshing an intern'iedia'te bevel pinion 28 mounted upon a shalt 29 which is supported for rotation in suitable bearings and which is driven from any suitable source of power as by means of a belt 30. Under the construction shown in l 2 and 3 it would not be convenient to have a longitudinal adjustment of the shaft 7 owing to the fact that the latter been hearing in the ruddern 'in said figures the outer tubular shalt 3 car rying the propeller 6 has been illusl being longitudiinilly adjustal'ile by inc: a hand lever 32 for the purpose oi regula ing the distance between the propellers.

The operation and advantages of this invention. will be readily urnlerstood, l'rom the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed, by those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

The invention is applicable to motor boats, despatch boats and all classes of vessels where the attainment of higher speed is desirable; the invention may in like manner be applied to the propulsion of torpedoes and to other similar uses. When the two propellers are rotated in opposite directions, as

herein described, the volume of water set in motion by the forward propeller will iinpinge or impact upon the blades of the rearward ropeller which is thereby rendered extreine yefi'ectiye, as will be easily understood; the elliciency of the forward propeller is also augmented, owing to the fact that the escape. in a rearward direction of a body of water set in motion thereby is checked by the real ward propeller, and a very high speed may thus be attained. y The invention is capable of being success l l l lior the relative adjustment of the propellers;

but when. the propellers are made adjustable as llOf-oll] described, they n'iay be disposed with relation to each other in such a manner that the most satisfactory results may be attained under all conditions arising from the speed at which the propellers are rotated, it having been found that when the speed of rotation is low, better results are obtained by placing thepropellers close together while, when the speed is high, it will be found better to space the propellers farther apart.

No limitation is made to any particular manner ol. operating the propellers.

The invention may be applied to vessels at a cost not greatly exceeding that of the ordinary single propeller.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is: l

l Means ior propelling vessels, comprising a pair olf shafts, one being rotatably and telescopically mount-ed w' in the other, propellers carried by said shafts, one of" said propell rs havingits blades pitchedoppositely to the blades of the'othcr propeller, means for adjusting one oi? said shafts telescenic-ally within the other, coinprisii-ig a raclr, a lover and a haml-o 'ierated pawl to (Jo-operate with said rack, said adjustable shalt having flanges at its ends, a collar l()- tatably mounted ljnetween said flanges and a link having one end pivotally connected to said lever while its other end pivoted to said collar and a motor belted to said shafts .l'or rotating the same. I

f. Illeans l'or propelling vessels coniprising a pair of shafts. one being hollow and the other mounted rotatably and telescopically within the hollow shaft, a ball ljiearing gland and lubricant device for the hollow shalt, propellers carried by said shafts, one of id propellers having its blades pitched op o sitely to the blades of the other propel.er, means for adjusting one of said shafts telescoiically within. the other, comprising a raclr, a lever and a hand-operated pawl to shalt be 'ing flanges at its ends, a collar rotatably mounted between said flanges and a link having one end pivotally connected to said lever while its other end is pivoted to (xi-operatic with said rack, said ad ustable said collar and a motor belted tosaid shaftsl'or rotating the same.

in testin'lony whereof I have signed my name to this specihcation in the presence oi 

